AURORA – They aren’t called the Warriors for nothing. They persevere.Lincoln-Way West made the long trek to East Aurora on Tuesday to battle the Tomcats in a PepsiCo Showdown tournament consolation pool game.The Warriors were not fazed by cold and windy weather, or a lengthy bus ride as they controlled possession and prevailed convincingly 5-2.“This was a good game, and we’re not looking too far ahead, but a grass surface can help us,” Warriors coach Jeff Theiss said. “Peoria Notre Dame has grass, and I don’t want to look too much ahead but you’re always trying to get better. And it’s hard to not look ahead somewhat.”Lincoln-Way West is in the Notre Dame Sectional again this season. The Irish beat the Warriors 2-0 in the sectional final last year.

Back to the present, Lincoln-Way West (7-3-0) did not waste much time, and jumped on top of the Tomcats for a 2-0 lead at intermission.Freshman Megan Shelton and senior Brianna Heyer scored to give the Warriors the early advantage. Breyer finished the game with 2 goals and 2 assists. Brianna Bembenek had 2 second half goals. Meghan Schick added 2 assists and Madison Mikalauski had 1 for Lincoln-Way West.The winners outscored their hosts again in the second half, but that was not a cause for celebration.

“Obviously, we were disappointed in giving up the two goals (in the second half), but a win is a win, and we did what we had to do,” Shelton said. “We definitely need to work more on our communication and drop down more and do a better job of clearing stuff.”The Warriors, the no. 13 seed in the 16-team Buddy's Helpers Bracket, came off a disappointing 2-1 loss to 4th-seeded Young on Saturday at Olympic Park in Schaumburg. Apparently, they were ready to put the bad memory behind and flourished after the long trip to Aurora.“The energy was good on the bus, and I thought we looked really good in the first half but we struggled to score,” Theiss said. “We are still struggling in realizing that we need to play more direct.”Theiss knows the talent is there, but he’s still waiting for the Warriors to fully utilize that ability. He’s seeing many positive signs, but not full disclosure.“Our philosophy definitely revolves around possessing the ball," he said. "However, we were struggling to have success on that surface. So we told the girls we would like to see them play more direct and utilize the speed of our forwards."

Surrendering a pair of goals, despite winning convincingly, did not please Theiss.‘We pride ourselves on our defense and not giving up anything,” he said. “That’s something we’ll have to look at on film and to see what happened.”Having the remote control will prove handy as Theiss should be able to pinpoint the pivotal moment of the aforementioned game.After the Tomcats scored to cut their deficit to 2-1, the Warriors didn’t succumb to the momentum as Breanna Bembenek answered with 22:48 remaining in the second half to make it a 4-2 game.“One thing we were stressing at halftime was not being so content to play the ball negative if there is time and space to turn," Theiss said. "We told the girls to take a look over their shoulder and take the space that is given. Communication, which needs to improve, was a factor in this as well."

The Warriors controlled ball movement for the most part, but the control didn’t always pay off.“We were trying to string together passes in our defensive third, which we have trouble with on an uneven surface," Theiss said. "I appreciate the effort we showed to attempt it, and it'll bode well for us in the future. However, at times you're going to have more success playing direct on a narrow field."

The long run was basically a long drive and the Warriors lived up to the challenge, at least on this occasion.“We know we have to close down against them and prove that they’re no big deal,” Warriors freshman Meghan Schick said. “It’s not as easy as you’d think but getting that first touch is key. If we can continue to do that we should be pretty good.”The bonus of the victory was playing on a natural surface, something the Warriors aren’t accustomed to doing often since they are on an artificial surface at home.“It was different, but not what we didn’t expect,” Shelton said. “We just tried to adapt and do what we needed and I think we did well.”